Lionel Billiet with Prof Dr C.A.M. van den Hondel & Luuk Loeff

Concrete Lichen

In collaboration with Kluyver Centre for Genomics of Industrial Fermentation

Lichen as a self-sufficient living painting – transforming concrete walls into sensitive surfaces.

Lichens are a fascinating form of symbiosis between a microscopic green alga and a fungus, resulting in an extremely self-sufficient living system, adapted to unfriendly environments like the surface of stones and rocks. This project proposes to investigate the possibility of inoculating concrete surfaces with a specific cocktail of fungal spores and algal cells in order to induce the growth of a lichen layer on it. Lichen as a self-sufficient living painting – transforming concrete walls into sensitive surfaces.

The project ‘Concrete lichen’ or Living pigment by Lionel Billiet and the Kluyver Centre for Genomics of Industrial Fermentation is an examination of the biological growth of lichens on man-made surfaces such as buildings. The project above all aims to learn to propagate the lichen Xanthoria parietina, the lichen will then be planted on existing concrete walls – and the results observed.

Artist Lionel Billiet is fascinated by the story told by the biological growing patterns of the lichen. He aims to create patterns by influencing the natural growing process by altering light intensity and orientation and through variations in moisture content and air quality. The Kluyver Centre for Genomics of Industrial Fermentation aims to isolate and then grow lichen-forming strains from the Leiden area. They will then attempt to grow the lichen on concrete elements.